Demountable cabinet

ABSTRACT

A BOX-LIKE BASE, RIGHT AND LEFT CABINET SIDES WITH FORWARDLY STEPPED FRONT EDGES, AN UPPER FRONT PANEL, A PAIR OF DOORS HINGEDLY MOUNTED OIN A FRONT DOOR FRAME, A REAR UPPER SIDE SPACER, SAID SIDES SHIFTABLY INTERLOCKING TRANSVERSELY WITH SAID BASE, SAID PANEL, DOOR FRAME AND SPACER INTERLOCKING IN A FORE AND AFT DIRECTION WITH SAID SIDES, AND INTERNALLY HIDDEN MANUALLY APPLIED FASTENERS RIGIDLY FIXING SAID CABINET PARTS IN SAID INTERLOCKED RELATIONSHIPS.

March v2, 1971 n. M. DARY DEMOUNTABLE CABINET 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Au g14, 1969' INVENTO/i.

-DONALO M. 04R) ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,567,301 DEMOUNTABLE CABINET Donald M. Dary, 11732 Holly St, Colton, Calif. 92324 Filed Aug. 14, 1969, Ser. No. 850,195 lint. Cl. A4711 43/0, 47/00 ILLS. Cl. 312257 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Knock-down furniture packaged in compact kits is a highly developed art and the present invention aims at providing a novel, inexpensive and rugged innovation in this art.

One object of the invention is to provide a novel demountable cabinet beamed at the existing large market for lavatory or Pullman type cabinets which may be mass produced at a low cost and thus have a low price advantage in this very competitive field.

Another object is to provide such a demountable cabinet which can be sold through catalog channels from colored illustrations offering a substantial variety of design styles and color combinations through choices which may be made by the purchaser by mail.

A further object is to embody such a demountable cabinet in a do it yourself kit which will be foolproof to a high degree and assure the novice purchasing the same that he can produce from the kit a superior cabinet without the use of tools, and in a relatively short time.

Yet another object is to provide such a demountable cabinet which has built in interlocking characteristics which invest the assembled product with a degree of ruggedness equivalent or superior to that found in a shop assembled conventional cabinet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a preferred embodiment of the demountable cabinet of the invention, fully assembled.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged inverted perspective view of the box-like base of the invention and showing a bottom portion of one of the sides thereof being shifted into interlocking relation with said base.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of an upper right hand portion of FIG. 2 illustrating the completion of the assembly of said side and said base.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 showing the front panel means including an upper panel and a door frame equipped with hinged doors and displaced away from the sides of the cabinet as when assembling or disassembling the latter.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on a fore and aft plane of the assembled cabinet and illustrating the location of internally hidden fastening means which are manually applicable to accomplish the final uniting of the parts of the cabinet together.

FIG. 6 is an inside view of a lower portion of the left side of the cabinet prior to this being assembled with the base thereof and thus illustrates the means provided on each cabinet side member for causing it to interlock with the base of the cabinet.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT There are two principal methods of manufacture suited for the production of the invention as disclosed herein. The first of these is to employ wood as the material and fabricate the various parts of the invention in jigs and by conventional mass production machinery available in furniture and sash and door factories. An alternate production method is that of plastic jet molding. A lower unit cost in mass produtcion can be obtained by the latter method although the tooling cost is considerably greater. The essential characteristics of the various parts of the invention will be the same whichever of these production methods is used.

A perspective view of the cabinet 10 of the invention as made of wood is shown in FIG. 1. This cabinet has a base 11, right and left cabinet sides 12 and 13, a rectangular door frame 14 on which are hingedly mounted a pair of doors 15, an upper front cross panel 16 and a rear upper side spacer 17.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the base 11 has a horizontal top wall 18 which forms the floor of the cabinet 10. Secured as by stapling to the bottom surface of wall 18 slightly inwardly from and parallel with its opposite ends are right and left base end Walls 19 and 20. The rear ends of end walls 19 and 20 are flush with the rear edge of horizontal wall 18, and a rear wall 21 which is coextensive in length with said horizontal wall 18 is secured as by stapling to the ends of end walls 19 and 20 as shown in FIG. 2 so that its ends are flush with the ends of top wall 18, its upper edge is flush with the top of said top wall and its lower edge is flush with the lower edges of end walls 19 and 20. The front ends of end walls 19 and 20 are flush with the front edge of horizontal top wall 18 and have their front lower corners notched out as shown in FIG. 2 to receive and interfit with notched upper corners of a front wall 25 so the ends of front wall 25 are coextensive with the ends of top wall 18 and the upper face of front wall 25 snugly fits against the bottom face of horizontal top wall 18 and the lower edge of front wall 25 is flush with the bottom edges of end walls 19 and 20.

Fitting into the included angles between end walls 19 and 20 and front wall 25 and secured to these elements as by stapling or by glueing are reinforcing members 26. For purposes which will be explained later, end walls 19 and 20 have horizontal holes 27 formed herein. As clearly shown in FIG. 2, front wall 25 is set back from the front end of the base 11 so as to leave a front edge portion 28 of said horizontal wall extending forwardly from over said front wall. Mounted centrally in said front portion 28 of horizontal wall 18 and extending downwardly therefrom is a threaded rod 29, the mount 30 for which may be any of the many conventional means provided for mounting a threaded rod on a sheet of plywood, particle board or the like. Mount 30 has the effect of rigidly mounting rod 29 on top wall 18 so as to remain united with the base 11.

As shown in FIG. 2, the notches formed in lower front corners of end walls 19 and 20 leave, remaining integral with said walls, a pair of forwardly extending arms 31, the front ends of which are flush with the front edge of horizontal top wall 18 and offer support to the ends of the front portion 28 of said horizontal wall.

As thus constructed, base 11 provides narrow extensions laterally endwise beyond end walls 19 and 20, as follows: extensions 32 on rear wall 21, extensions 33 on horizontal top wall 18 and extensions 34 on front wall 25.

Right and left cabinet sides 12 and 13 are reverse duplicates of each other so that a description of one will sufiice for both. Each of these sides includes a flat sheet of /8" particle board or plywood which is shaped in outline as shown in FIG. 1 with a quarter round notch 41 in its front lower corner and a stepped front edge including a relatively long lower step 42 and a short upper step 43. Provided on the inner face of sheet 40 fiush with the steps 42 and 43 in the front edge thereof, are inturned wooden block flanges 44 and 45 which are secured to the sheets 40 as by stapling. Upper ends of flanges 45 have inturned integral arms 46 and are integrally united with reinforcing ribs 47 which are secured to the inner faces of sheets 40 just inside their upper edges, rear end of said ribs terminating in inwardly extending rear arms 48. Ribs 47 and arms 46 and 48 on each cabinet end are united by an integral flat sheet of particle board 49 which may be both glued and stapled to said parts to rigidly secure the same together. Each flange 44 is provided with three holes 50 and its associated arm 46 has three holes 51 and each arm 48 has a hole 52.

Secured as by stapling to the inner face of each side sheet 40 and spaced inwardly a short distance from its rear edge is a reinforcing rib 55. Secured as by stapling to the inner face of the lower end portion of each sheet 40 is a sheet of wood 56 forming an internal boss on the sheet 40 which is coextensive in area with one of the end walls 19 so as to neatly fill the spaces surrounded by extensions 32, 33 and 34 in opposite ends of the base 11 when the sides 12 and 13 are assembled on the base 11 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. As may be noted in FIG. 6, the lower ends of wooden flange 44 and reinforcing rib 55 are spaced upwardly from the upper edge of boss 56 so as to allow extension 33 at the opposite ends of base 11 to fit into the spaces between these members when the cabinet sides 12 and 13 are assembled on the base 11 as shown in FIG. 3.

The boss 56 on each of the sides 12 and 13 is provided with parallel threaded rods 57 which are properly located thereon to be readily received by holes 27 in base ends 19, and 20 as shown in FIG. 2 so that when the interlocking movement for assembling the sides on the base 11 is completed, wing nuts 58 may be manually applied to threaded rods 57 to firmly secure said cabinet sides in said interlocking relation with the base 11.

The door frame 14- comprises a unitary rectangular cut out of one-half inch particle board or plywod including side members 59 and top and bottom members 60 and 61. Each of the side members 59 has fixedly mounted thereon three threaded rods 62 which are properly located to fit into the holes 50 of the flanges 44 when the cabinet 10 is assembled. When this assembly takes place, wing nuts 63 are applied to inner ends of rods 62 as shown in FIG. 5 to securely mount the door frame 14 on the cabinet sides 12 and 13. Stapled centrally on the inner face of bottom member 61 is a wooden block 64 having a central slot 65, this slot receiving threaded rod 29, when the cabinet is assembled, this rod having a wing nut 66 which is then screwed up tightly against the block 64 thereby rigidly uniting the bottom frame member 61 with the front edge portion of the cabinet floor 18.

Secured centrally to the inner surface of top frame member 60 at a mid point therein is a wooden block 70. The two doors 15 are hingedly mounted by hinges 71 on frame members 59, these doors having spring tongues '72 which engage with rollers provided by roller mounting units 73 which are secured to block so as to yieldably hold said doors in closed position on the frame 14. Decorative handles 74 are mounted on said doors for opening and closing the same.

Peripheral portions of the front face of front cross panel 16 are decoratively chamt'erred and this panel may be provided with various decorative designs in paint or decal. Fixed on the back face of said panel are six threaded rods 75 which are properly located to extend respec- 4 tively into the holes 51 provided in flanges 45 and arms 46 when assembling the cabinet 10. Wing nuts 76 applied from the inside of the cabinet to said rods rigidly unite the front cross panel 16 with the cabinet 10.

The rear upper side spacer 17 is made of wood and has embodied therewith two threaded rods 77 which are located near the ends thereof and are properly positioned thereon to extend through holes 52 in the arms 48 when the cabinet 10 is assembled. Wing nuts 78 are applicable to said threaded rods to tightly secure opposite ends of spacer 17 to the arms 48 of the cabinet sides 12 and 13 so as to rigidly space upper rear portions of said sides.

When the cabinet 10 is fully assembled, it appears as shown in FIG. 1. It is capable of being readily disassembled however merely by manually removing the wing nuts 58, 63, 66, 76 and 78 and separating the elements of the cabinet by pulling the threaded rods from the holes receiving the same. As before noted, the superior feature of the present invention resides in the cheapness with Which it can be mass produced by conventional jigging procedures available generally in a sash and door or furniture factory. Another advantage is the small compass within which the parts may be packed together and inserted in a cardboard box for shipment. Another advantage of course is the great ease with which the invention may be assembled and the structural rigidity which the cabinet thus produced possesses by virtue of the interfitting and strongly braced relationship between the parts of the cabinet. Still another advantage is found in the opportunity afforded by the invention to sell the same through catalog channels in which variously colored and decorated front cross panels 16 may be offered as well as similar varieties of coloration and decoration in the door frame 14- and doors 15 so that each customer may select his own combination of front panel and door assembly finishes when ordering a cabinet of this invention.

Not only is the present invention designed for economical and sturdy construction by conventional wood manufacturing methods but its design adapts it for proudction of its various parts by jet plastic molding wherein the base, the right and left cabinet sides, the door frame, the doors, the front cross panel and the rear upper side spacer will each be produced by a single plastic jet molding operation. In such a molding operation, of course, the threaded rods employed in the production of the cabinet out of wood will be anchored in place in their respective parts during jet molding of the latter.

It is also to be noted that while the threaded rods above mentioned as used in the construction of the cabinet 10 are preferably of metal, such rods formed of suitable plastic material are equally adapted for use in the invention.

I claim:

1. A demountable Pullman type lavatory mounting cabinet formed of sheet plywood, particle board or the like and comprising:

a box-like base having a horizontal board top wall forming a cabinet bottom, board end walls, and board front and rear walls, said walls being permanently united to form said base;

independent right and left board cabinet sides;

hole means provided on end walls of said base;

threaded rod means mounted on inside faces of said cabinet sides for penetrating said hole means when said base and sides are assembled in snug juxtaposed position;

wing nut means applied to inner ends of said rods;

front panel means including a board door frame on which door means are hingedly mounted; and

threaded rod and wing nut means on said door frame and front edges of said sides for effecting a concealed interlocking interengagement between said door frame and sides when the same are assembled in snug juxtaposition.

2. A demountable cabinet as recited in claim 1 wherein said means for securing said sides on said base is supplemented by lateral extensions (32, 33, 34) of said board top wall and board front and rear walls beyond said board end walls, and bosses (56) rigidly united With and extending inwardly from said cabinet sides and fitting the spaces Within said extensions.

3. A demountable cabinet as recited in claim 1 wherein:

said interlocking means, last recited, include:

apertured inturned board flanges provided rigidly on front edges of said board sides, and threaded rods mounted and so positioned on inside faces of opposite vertical portions of said front panel means as to extend inwardly therefrom through the apertures in said flanges; and wherein:

said interlocking means include wing nuts manually applicable internally of said cabinet to said rods.

4. A demountable cabinet as recited in claim 1 wherein:

said front wall is set back from the front edge of said horizontal wall to provide a toe space therebeneath, said sides having front corner notches opening into said toe space,

front edges of said sides being stepped to provide two pairs of steps above said notches,

said panel means including a panel applicable to and detachably mountable upon the upper pair of said steps, and

a separate door frame applicable to and detachably mountable on the lower pair of said steps.

5. A demountable cabinet as recited in claim 4 wherein:

a threaded rod is fixed upon a front edge portion of said horizontal board wall to extend downwardly therefrom,

a notched block being mounted on a lower portion of said door frame to extend under said horizontal wall and receive said rod in its notch, and

a Wing nut applicable to said rod to unite said frame and wall.

6. A demountable cabinet as recited in claim 1 wherein is provided a spacer bar manually applicable to upper rear portions of said board sides to rigidly space the same.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,571,896 2/1926 Anderson 312-308 2,424,217 7/1947 Bales 312-257 2,438,257 3/1948 Stevenson et al 312-253 2,483,606 10/1949 Albach et al. 312--257 2,651,557 9/1953 Kelly 312257 2,732,273 1/1956 Schalfner 312210X 2,775,500 12/1956 Etherington 31221OX PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner G. V.- LARKIN, Assistant Examiner 

